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'Cloud Atlas' Review - A Gorgeous Mess

Cloud Atlas is an ambitious, intriguing film but its sprawling narrative feels at once too busy for three hours and overly long.

Cloud Atlas is a beautiful film.

Unfortunately, it’s also a very long film that attempts to pack in far too much in its three hour run.

The sci-fi fable might have been better served as a mini-series, or even as a full-blown television series, giving it the elbow room it deserved to explore each story line and each character throughout its time-spanning narrative.

What the film gets right it gets very right. There are moments of real emotion and beauty. The ambition is palpable. The visuals are daunting and the acting is often, but not always, excellent.

Unfortunately there’s simply too much going on. There’s too much story here for three hours, and yet three hours still manages to feel overly long. The ambition is commendable but the execution falls short.

At the heart of the film’s deepest failure is its cast and the necessity and limitations of reusing each actor over so many roles. There’s an uncanny valley element at play that I found offputting, but that others may not mind.

Still, it’s nice to see someone like Tom Hanks do something different, to break out of the comfortable roles he’s stuck to for so long. Hugo Weaving, on the other hand, will always be the evil Elfish lord of the Matrix no matter what film I see him in.

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5-6 years ago I’d be all over this, but now… eh. I guess it’s mainly because this movie seems like more of a visual treat than anything else, and I haven’t seen any movie that’s wowed me (visually) since I don’t know when.

I can appreciate that, though there are some less visually attractive movies that are pretty good. Have you seen Looper? Or Cabin in the Woods? Give those a try!

It is tough getting excited to see films in theaters. The only films I like seeing in theaters now are packed crowds for horror movies. I saw paranormal 4 at a free screening at a university, that was a fun time.

I can appreciate/enjoy a good movie. Looper was good. Cabin in the Woods was fun. So I can sit down, watch, and enjoy a good movie.

I just can’t get excited over them anymore. Like, “Holy crap I’ve got to see this movie.” I’ve done that so many times, only to have the movie never rise above “good” and become something really special. So I just can’t do it anymore.

I’ve realized I’m not a movie guy anymore, and even something as supposedly creative as Cloud Atlas probably won’t be able to change that.

Just saw it. Wow, I’m still trying to absorb it. I have been interested in the philosophy of reincarnation. This movie certainly does address the issues, such as reincarnation with the same group of people, where you can be lovers, friends or enemies at different lifetimes. I went with my boyfriend. At the end of the movie I asked him how he liked the movie, he asked me to explain what it was about. He was lost. Of course I knew only because I read about it first. It jumps a lot and hard to keep up. As a Hispanic, I did not appreciate how my native language got slaughtered by the Asian actress playing a “Wet Back”(?) Really? OK, so Hollywood won’t cast Hispanics, but there’s no need to insult us.

My son really liked this movie and wanted to go with me to see it again. My husband and I took some of his friends to see it for the first time as well. I struggled at first to follow it but let it unfurl like Autua jumping off the tall ship’s 60 foot main mast, spectacular!

Afterwards, the movie sparked intelligent, thought provoking conversations with this group of young people about Nobel prizing winning author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, scifi author Harry Harrison, having your life make a positive difference in the world, etc, what a great night of entertainment and intelligent thought! What other movie can boast that!